Kwotss op bendebjng objects less visible against backgrounds



A. MACKAY.

PIIocfss or IIEIIIIEIIING osIEcrs Liss vIsIIILE AGAINST sAcIIGIIouIIos.

APPLICATINI FILED SEPT. 4. lll l.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM ANDREW MACKAY, F COYTESVILLE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOB OF ONE-HALF T0 JOSEPH O. FISHER, OELEWISTON, MAINE.

PROCESS 0F RENDERING OBJECTS LESS VISIBLE AGAINST BACXGBQUNDS.

lpeeinoatloii of Letten Patent.

Patented J une 3, 1919.

Application illed September 4, 1917. Serial No. 189,543.

To all whom it ma concern.'

Be it known t at I, WILLIAM ANniiaw MACKAY, a citizen of the United States residing at Coytesville, in the county of liergen and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pmcesses of Rendering Objects Less Visible Against Backgrounds; and I do hereby declare the followin to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it ryipertains to vmake and use the same.

is invention relates to a process of rendering objects such as shi at sea, etc., less visible against backgroun s, and has for its object to provide a. method which will be more eicient for the purpose in hand than those heretofore pro osed.

With this and ot er objects in view the invention consists in the novel steps and combinations of steps constituti the process, all as will be more fully hereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification in which like numerals designate like parts in all the views Figure 1 is a. diagrammatic view illustrating one design in accordance with which the shilp may be painted; and

igs. 2, 3 and 4 are diagrammatic views illustrating diierent shades of color that are useful in painting the design illustrated in fn order that the invention may be the more clearly understood it is said In order to mimic the natural background against which a ship is seen it is desirable to make the exposed surface of the ship ieilect as near as poible the same colors` that would be reflected into the eye, of the background if the ship were not present. That is to say, the water in the foreground of an observer is generally of a dark greenish or blue hue and it is also generally in the form of waves.

Therefore, in carrying out this invention I prefer to paint a portion of the ship to simulate as nearly as possible this said water. Again, the water in the background beyond the ship is of a lighter hue in which blue and green predominate, and is generally in the form of waves so that another portion of .the exposed area of the ship is painted to simulate as nearly as possible this last mentioned water.

In addition to the above portions of water that are to be simulated, certain portions of the ship are seen against the sky extending above the horizon and it is therefore desirable to reserve certain arts of the exposed aren of the ship mild to paint them with colors simulating the sky.

The sky colors, of course, are still different from'the colors in the water, and in all cases it is desirable to use such colors as will simulate as nearly as possible the average hues of the sky and sea, all as will now made clear.

According] in carrying out this invention, I rovi e the sets of colors A, B and C, see `igs. 2, 3 and 4. The set of colors A is composed of the hues red, green and blue, and in order to get the proper shade of red 1 prepare say one ounce of Venetian led and add thereto say 47.5 ounces of white lead. Iii order to obtain the proper shade of green I mix say 1 ounce of oxid of chromium with .5 of an ounce of yellow chrome light and add to the mixture say 7 ounces of white lead.

In order to obtain the ro er shade of blue I mix 1i ounces of arti cia ultramarine and 37 ounces of white lead.

In order to obtain the set of colors B, for the red and blue I employ the same shades of red and blue as that. described in conncc tion with the set of colors A. For the `green in the set of colors B I mix one ounce of oxid of chromium with .05 of an ounce of 'hiime yellow light and 6.7 ounces of white For the set of colors C I empio the same green as that appearing in set o colors B, and for the violet in the set of colors C, I mix .5 of :in ounce of artificial ultaramarine with .05 of an ounce of Harrison red and with 3.45 of ar. ounce of white lead.

All the above colors are made with the well known Windsor & Newtons standard artists oil colors.

llavin pre ered the three sets of colors, A, B, am C, proceed to paint the ship 1 in such a way as to simulate one oi more waves, see the lines 2, 3, 4 and 5. The main body rtioii of the arca F ineloscd by said lines g, 4 and 5 I paint with the violet verf.

color 10 in the set of colors C, and on this said violet color or ground 10 I paint numerous green patches 12, the green being of the same shade as the green 12 in set of colors C. These said green patches are chosen of such a size as to occupy about 30% or 40% of the violet ound 10 as indicated.

This waveli e area F extends well up the sides of the vessel, and is therefore of such dimensions as to entirely obliterate or hide the water line 9 of the vessel.

In fact, if the colors are inade up as above disclosed, at a proper distance from the vessel with the light being right, it is impossible to distinguish any water line and the water of the foreground is simulated so closely as to merge or shade right into the painted portion of the vessel, and it is substantially impossible to tell where the water line 9 should be.

Above the wave lines 2, 3, '1 and 5, I select an area suchas G, for example, bounded by the wave lines 7 and 8, and I apply to said area G the blue paint 15 a caring in the set of colors B. This said iiiue paint is of a niuch lighter hue than the violet paint appearing in the area F, and therefore, it simulates much more accurately the distant water extending between the ship and horizon. On this said blue color or ground 15 I provide a plurality of green splashes or spots 12 which are, or may be of the saine color as .the spots or color in the area F, and

. they may occup also the saine relative area,

of about 40%'0 the light blue ground, G.

In between the green spots 12 I also apply red s ots of color 16 which a )pears in the set o colors B, see Fig. 3. These said red dish spots 16 eontainin yellow chronic oceupy say 10%or 20% o the area of the blue ground G. Affe." the vessel has been painted over the areas F and G with the colors and the designs just disclosed, if thelight is just right, and if the observer is at thi` iroper distance from the ship, the two painted areas F and G simulate so closely the water in the foreground and the water between the ship and the horizon that they readily merge into these said ortions of the sea and it is very diflicult in eed to distinguish these portions of the snip froin the snrroundino water.

`In addition to the areas F anilG I select an area auch as ll and first paint it over with the blue color 15 found in the set of colors A, and over this said blue color I provide splashes of red color 16 found in said set of colors A. These said splashes are or ina be of substantially the simio total nica as t ie splashes 12 in ie area 1",.and the may occupy sa 40% of the arca Il. In tween the splas ies of red 16 I further add smaller spots or patches of green 17 which appears in the set of colors A, These said spots 17 may occupy say 15% or 20% of the am H.

The areas K, L M, N are similarly painted with the same colors and proportions of the colors as will be clear from the drawings. The led 16 in the areas H, K L M, and N contains a large roportion of white as will be clear from t e composition of set of colors A, and therefore, it is well ada ted to simulate the colors that aie reflec from a sky above the horizon. The green in said areas contains a considerable proportion of yellow chrome light and white lead so that it is well adapted to simulate the green which goes to make up a distant sky while the blue also contains a lar e proportion of white, and therefore, closeigy simulates the average distant sky.

The result is that when the light is just right and the observer is at a proper distance from the vessel, the said areas 11, l, L, M and N so fade into the surrounding sky that the contour or outline of the ship substantiall disappears and it is often very difficult in eed to distinguish her outline against the sky. The .illusory effect or miinicry is still further enhanced by the treatment of the area O containing the portions 0" and O. '1`hese said areas are first painted with the red color 16 which is the sinne as the red spots in the preceding areas, and on this color field is iipplied the sauts or splashes 15 which is the saine as t ie blue field 15 in the preceding aieas. In the field 16 the spots 15 occupy about say 40% 'if the total area. Between the spots 15 on the red field 16 is also painted the green spots 17 which occup say u. total arca of 10% or 20% of said fie d 16. The spots 17 of the areas 0, 0', 0 and O are of the saine color as the spots 17 in the arcas 1l, l, L, M and N.

Referring to the said areas O, 0 and 0 it will be observed that the main field of color 16 contains a large iroportion of white lead, and therefore, it reilccts the red of the shy as well as tho rod of the distant sca. In the saine way the spots 15 on said last inentioiicd arcas contain a largo proportion of white with a sniall proportion of blue, and therefore, they are well adapted to reflect the saine light as the distant sea and sky.

Likewise the spots 17 on said areas O, (.l', 0 and 0 contain both yellow chronic l lht and a white so that they are well adapte to reflect the saine green colors as the distant sea and sky.

It results from this that the distant sea and skv :ire caused to ap Mr to merge into ciu-li other from these sau. areas of the ships side, and when the light is just right, and the distance is proper, the ship docs actually disap )ear both as to contour, water line and all. fn other words, when the conditions are favorable it is impossible, as has been proved by actual trial, to see a vessel painted according to this design when vthe same veel l sel may be so painted in the dull gray tones heretofore employed would be c early and distinctly visible.

In addition to the above, it is preferred to preserve certain areas or spots such as P, Q,

S, T, U, etc., to be painted in white. These said last named areas ma be given an outline such as that shown an thus represent white caps on the sea thus increasing the illusion.

It will now be clear that by using ones judgment and selecting the proper shades or hues of red, reen and blue to match a given foregrouii or brackground, and b roportioning said hues or shades accor ing to the principles above disclosed, a vesainted as to rellect back into the eye rays o light which closel simulates those reflected by the backgroum itself. It will be further clear that the illusion is greatly enhanced by so shaping the areas to be painted as to simulate the outlines or contours of dierent arts of said background. In other wor s, in a sense I paint a picture of actual waves and sky on the shi and enhance the illusion b placin the red? green and blue colors si e by si e in patches instead of mixing them in different roportions into a single and different paint lbr each area such as G or H. It will be further observed that I am enabled to paint the entire ship with onl the shades of color 12, 10, 15, 16, and 17, ut that the patches of these colors occupy different relative areas on different parts of the ships surface. It is important that these said paelies be not made so large as to be distinguished by the eye as separate areas of color at the distance the ship is to be seen.

I find that if theyJ aie not larger than say 10 inches or twelve inches in one dimension, they will all blend into the eye as a single shade at a distance 01' say one half a mile er more.

I further find it convenient to paint what I call a pattern design of a given type of ship in order to enable the ships painters or other persons applying the colors to siinulate the foreground, the sea background and the sky background more tasil and to this end I may provide a strip of s iect material such as Wood', cardboard, etc., or prefe rably a strip of flexible material, and paint thereon outlines of .the above mentioned foregrounds and backgrounds, sub.-tantially as described above. .Said pattern design would with the naine type give the substantial apxiaranco of Fig. l of the drawings. 'lhcso i esigns may be sold to lheshipowners or to the other persons controllinw the painting of the ship.

It is obvious that those skilled in thi` art may vary the details of the process as well as the aliape of the various patterns, patches or designa, to be painted ou the ship, and

also the colors in each case without departing from the spirit of the invention, and therefore, I do not wish to be limited to the above disclosure except as may be required by the claims.

What I claim is:-

1. The process of decreasing the visibility of a ship at sea which consists in painting the outline of a body of water on said ship, and in patches of color so proportioned as to shade and area as to reflect iro the eye rays of light closely simulating those reflected by sai water, substantially as described.

2. The process of decreasing the visibility of a ship at sea which consists in paintin the outlines of a portion of the water and sky against which said ship is seen and in diilerent patches of color so proportioned in shade and area as to rcllect rays of light closely simulating in tone those reflected from said water and sky, substantially as described.

3. The process of decreasing the visibility of a distant object seen against a background of water, and sky, which consists in painting on the lower portions of said object in predetermined colors an outline of the foreground painting on said object above said outline of the foreground in colors an outline of the background of water; ainting in colors above said background o water an outline of the background of sky; and soproportioning said colors in each area painted as to cause the reflected rays to closely` simulate the rays actually reflected by the corresponding foreground and backgrounds, substantially as described.

4. The process of decreasing the visibility of an object at sea which consists in paintin patches in predetermined shades of re green, blue and violet on the surface of said object in areas representing various portions of the sea foreground, the sea background and the sky background; and so proportioning the total areas of said patches in cach background and foreground as to refleet rays closely simulating those reflected from the natural foreground and backgrounds, substantially as described.

5. The herein described attern desi n for aiding in the painting o a vessel to e crease its visibility at sea comprisin an outline of the natural sky backgroun and an outline of the natural sea background against wliicl.- said vessel is t0 be seen, and having the areas in said outlines of said backgrounds painted in colors adapted to reflect rays of light closely simulating those retlected from said natural backgrounds, substantially as described.

6. The herein described pattern for painting a vessel to decrease its visibility at sea, comprising areas siinulatin the sky and sea.

rtions of the natural Iioreground, and

ackground in connection with which said ,portions of 'the natu-rml ioreground, and

back ound in connection with which said 10 me Will be seen, und hnving sniti areas Paintd in patches consisting of diierent colors, of the proper hues, adapted collectively to relient rays of light closely simuluting `those .reected from und natural grounds, substantially as desor1bed.

Ln testimony whereof I .aixm-y ,slgnature WILLIAM ANDREW MACKAY.

,00pm n! N w yhe obtained or ma yeen: nel, by pumping me Maintainer ot intents, www, .1a. lsi." 

